


The Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come

by ApollosArtemis



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Cookies, Christmas Dinner, Christmas Eve, Christmas Morning, Christmas Movies, Christmas Tree, Christmas Tree Decorating, F/F, Family, Kids, Presents, Sanvers - Freeform, Sanvers and kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 17:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17125259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApollosArtemis/pseuds/ApollosArtemis
Summary: Maggie’s feelings towards Christmas have shifted a few times in her life time.Her Christmases with Alex and their family though, will forever be her favourite.





	The Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come

**Author's Note:**

> For my Secret Santa, Bek.
> 
> Merry Christmas!!

She used to love Christmas. 

She loved to go tree hunting with her dad, and then decorating it with her parents, she loved baking cookies with her mom, she loved opening presents while her family laughed as she happily ripped apart the wrapping paper. She just loved Christmas. 

She even preferred it over her birthday. Her birthday was her day, but Christmas was about her entire family and that mattered more. Her family was everything. 

But then they kicked her out, because she didn’t fit into their perfect family anymore, so she hated Christmas from then on. 

Her aunt was nice to her, and she still got presents, but the Christmas spirit she loved so much was gone. She still looked for trees and she still decorated them and she still baked cookies with terrible Christmas music playing, but it didn’t live up to Christmas at home. 

Home. 

She spends years thinking they’ll take her back, years waiting to go home, but it never comes. And so she leaves her aunt the second she graduates, thanking her over and over for the roof above her head, but they both know they’ll never see each other again, not by choice anyway. 

She tries to make Gotham her home, tries to make Kate her home even, but Gotham is too cold and too dark for her, and Kate and her are too different, she’s calm and patient where Kate isn’t and there’s only so long that can go on. They only spend one Christmas together, and they spend it fighting until their throats are raw and until they had no tears left to cry. Well, Kate cried. Maggie went to a bar and drank until her vision went blurry. She leaves Gotham soon after she calls it off with Kate. 

National City is warmer, more welcoming, and although her transition doesn’t go without any obstacles, National City becomes a home way faster than Gotham City. She still spends quite a few Christmases alone, and it’s nothing knew because she’s been spending Christmas alone since she left her aunt, except for that one terrible Christmas she had with Kate that is. 

And then she meets Alex Danvers in September, and she never spends Christmas alone ever again. 

They start dating begin October, but she’s still surprised when she’s invited over for Christmas. She just assumed Alex would go and she would hang out on her own in either her or Alex’s apartment, whatever she felt like in the moment. But she was invited, and for the first time since she was 14, she spends Christmas laughing, eating the most delicious food and playing the most ridiculous games. 

It’s been over a decade since that first Christmas with her chosen family now, and she smiles at the memory of that day as she walks into her home. 

Her home. Her home, which she shares with Alex and their two beautiful children.

Maggie didn’t even have time to put down her purse before her bliss was interrupted by the fire alarm and Aurora yelling “Mom!” at the top of her lungs. 

It takes her 10 seconds to locate her entire family in the kitchen, Alex holding a tray of burned cookies, Aurora doing her best to salvage a few of them and River laughing hysterically from where he was seated on the kitchen counter. 

“Need some help Danvers?” 

“Mama!” Aurora exclaims, her yell echoed by her little brother, who almost jumps off the counter but Maggie races past Alex to grab him. She then returns to hug her daughter and kiss her wife on the cheek. 

“She burned them.” Aurora pouts, and Maggie laughs as Alex exclaims “Hey!” 

“Rory, you know she’s useless in the kitchen without me. Why did you let her bake them to begin with?” 

“Because Riv and I wanted cookies. And she promised to not burn them this time.” 

“And you believed that?” Maggie asks her as she puts River down. 

“A girl can dream!” 

“I’m right here you know.” Alex grumbles. 

“Sorry babe. Now, where are the ingredients for those cookies you guys are craving?” 

Aurora’s face lit up as she realized what her mother was saying, and she raced so fast around the kitchen that she could give Barry Allen a run for his money. 

“Here!” She says proudly as she puts the last ingredients down. 

“Okay, Alex, you’re in charge of the music. We’ll do the baking.” 

Alex raises her eyebrow, but does as she’s told anyway. In the end she and River mostly just eat the batter while Maggie and Aurora are distracted and sing along with Mariah Carey loudly. Maggie lets River do some of the stirring though, which he does with a huge grin on his face. 

“Can we watch The Grinch now?” Aurora asks excitedly when the cookies are in the oven and Maggie set the timer for the appropriate amount of time for them not to burn this time around. 

“You know, most kids watch The Muppet Christmas Carol or something, not How The Grinch Stole Christmas.” Maggie points out. 

“It’s a kids movie!” Aurora defends herself. 

“But he threatens to steal Christmas!” 

“But doesn’t do it in the end.” 

“Great arguments on both sides, so go start it Rory, we’ll watch the Muppet one another time.” Alex steps in, smiling at both of her girls. 

“Yes!” 

The two of them watch their kids from the kitchen for a bit, Maggie resting her head on Alex’s shoulder and Alex’s arm around her waist. 

“Thank you.” Maggie whispers then, out of the blue. 

“For what?” 

“For making every Christmas amazing.” 

“It’s not Christmas yet.” Alex notes, but her fingers tightened around Maggie, pulling her a bit closer. 

“Hmm, correct. But it’s Christmas season and if this is already amazing, Christmas will be amazing as well.” 

“Can’t argue with that logic.” 

“Hey! It’s movie time!” 

After a while Maggie gets up to take the cookies out of the oven, telling her family to keep the movie rolling since she already saw it more times than she could count. Alex made a remark about Aurora loving the Christmas movie in question since before she was even born because she recalls her kicking a lot when she and Maggie watched it one time during her pregnancy. 

It’s not until the movie ends that Alex realizes she was supposed to talk to Maggie about something when she got home.

“Hey Mags?” She asks casually as the credits roll over the screen.

“Yeah?”

“I was thinking... don’t you think it’s time we get a tree?” 

Maggie’s reply, whatever it might have been, was cut off by two screaming children who flew off the couch and started jumping around. 

“Hey! I haven’t even said yes yet!” 

That got them to calm down, knowing that Maggie would be more likely to say no with a headache caused by their screams. 

“Please mama?” River asked sweetly with big puppy eyes, and god, her kids both inherited Alex’s eyes and all three of them mastered the pout, so she couldn’t even say no if she wanted to. 

“Okay let’s go.” 

Getting dressed to brave the cold took them a bit longer than expected because Aurora couldn’t find the beanie Kara had made her last Christmas and she refused to go outside without it, but once Alex finally saw it had fallen off the radiator from where it had been drying, they were out the door relatively quickly. 

Once they got to the tree selling place, the kids took a great liking to the biggest tree there. 

“Sweeties we don’t have room for that one.” Maggie explained with a smile on her lips, because she remembers doing the same thing when she was small. One time she actually got her dad to buy a bigger tree than usual. Her mom was livid, exclaiming they didn’t have the money for such a big tree, but her dad had told her that they deserved a treat for once. 

She could tell Alex knew her mind had wandered to the past because she squeezed her hand gently before pointing at another tree for the kids to admire. 

They ended up roaming around and looking at trees for a while, even playing a game of hide and seek between the trees to the annoyance of some of the other customers, but they ended up buying the one Alex had pointed out at the beginning. 

After they set the tree up in the living room they decided to decorate tomorrow because it was pretty late already. 

So the next day the kids came home bouncing because they really wanted to decorate the tree now, and Alex came home to River yelling at her to hurry up, because otherwise they were gonna start without her. 

“Geez, I’m here, I’m here.” 

Maggie had already dragged the boxes downstairs with the kids, so after some welcome home kisses the family got to work. 

“You know, your decorating style reminds me of Kara’s.” 

“You’re only saying that because aunt Kara likes non-traditional ornaments.” Aurora shot back at her mother, who laughed. 

“That’s to be expected of a Kryptonian though.” Maggie joined in. “I’m more surprised Lena lets her hang those ‘ornaments’ in their tree.” 

“Can I do the star?” River asks then, holding a silver star with glitters in his tiny hands. 

“Sure thing kiddo, c’mere.” Alex says as she picks her son up in one swift motion. 

“Mom, why did you literally just make fun of aunt Kara’s decorations when we have about 10 rainbow ornaments?” Aurora wonders out loud not long after the entire family had finished cheering River on. 

“Because those are store bought and not made by an 11-year-old alien who still wants to put those ornaments in her tree.” 

“Fair.” 

About an hour later they’re done, admiring their multicolored rainbow and glitter Christmas tree. 

“Who wants some hot chocolate with cinnamon?” Maggie asks them then, earning three yells of “me!” 

The rest of December seems to fly by, and before any of them really realize just exactly how fast the days go by, it’s Christmas Eve. 

They’re watching another Christmas movie, The Santa Clause this time, when Maggie pauses the movie for a bathroom break. Neither of the kids notice the wink she throws her wife before she leaves the room. 

She comes back with four neatly packaged presents, handing two of them to Alex so she can give the kids theirs. 

They’ve done this for a few years now, giving them one present on Christmas Eve, and it’s been the same present every year. 

But neither of the kids say anything, knowing there’s another part to the ritual. 

“Merry Christmas my loves.” Maggie tells them, and then she finally hands the presents over as the kids tell her Merry Christmas too. 

They’re matching pajamas, and the kids know their parents will have matching ones, but they look at them expectantly anyway. 

After Alex and Maggie opened theirs, they all changed into their pj’s, finishing the movie with cookies, hot chocolate and matching pajamas. 

On Christmas morning the kids wake their parents by jumping on their bed at 7:15 in the morning.

“It’s so early! Rory why’d you let him in here?” Alex groans as she tries to pull the duvet over her head again.

“Sorry mom, I tried to keep him away but his willpower was stronger than mine.” 

Alex groans again. 

“Can we just all cuddle for a bit then?” She attempts, and soon the kids have nestled themselves between her and Maggie. 

It doesn’t take long before their youngest announces he’s bored though.

“Shhhhh just a little bit longer.” 

“Mom! You’re falling asleep again! No more sleeping!” Aurora scolds. 

“I’m the mom and I say we sleep for a little bit longer so ha!” 

“Too bad I’m also in charge here Danvers and I say they’re right.” 

“It’s 7:30! That’s way too early!” 

“Last year he woke us up an hour earlier so I see this as a win. Now c’mon, let’s get up.” 

“You want to open your presents too don’t you?” 

“Of course I do silly!” 

They spend the morning blasting Christmas music and opening presents, said presents ranging from mugs reading “don’t talk to me before my morning coffee” to lego sets and nerf guns. They play some board games and let the kids enjoy their new presents for a bit and then it’s time to head over to Kara’s for Christmas dinner.

At Kara’s place they meet up with the younger Danvers, Lena, and their 6-year-old adopted daughter Bailey. Winn, J’onn and Eliza are already there, all meeting them with hugs. 

Winn runs around the room with River and Aurora is admiring Bailey’s presents when James walks in. 

“James!” The entire room says upon noticing him, and James immediately grabs at the camera around his neck to capture the joy on his family’s faces. 

As they all talk and laugh and sing, Maggie can’t help but notice how happy she feels, and how happy everybody else seems as well. 

She used to love Christmas, and then she hated it. But then she fell in love with Alex, and she made her rediscover many things, including Christmas. 

Sure, the movies and the baking of the cookies and the pj’s all screamed Christmas, but this, this dinner, these people, this one specific event, this was Christmas for her. 

And she wouldn’t want it any other way.


End file.
